Color blind internet

The Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists (TBABJ) hosts an annual awards ceremony designed to honor the best journalism on issues related to people of color in the Tampa Bay area. Well, it's time to gather up the nominations for those Griot Drum Awards, and TBABJ is looking for entries in the website category. St. Pete Times media critic, and long time TBABJ member and booster Eric Deggans contacted us, to ask if we had anything that qualifies:

Yipes...

I'd love to learn more about all of our local communities, but I have been unsuccessful in finding people to share their knowledge with us here. I've asked a many people of various backgrounds to contribute to Sticks of Fire, but very few take me up on it.

And it makes sense. It's easy to start your own site. Why would you write on Sticks of Fire, when you can write on your own? This is the part about blogging that is difficult. It's very nature makes it exclusive.

So, in that sense, we are very bland.

In addition to a significant lack of color here in the Sticks (or maybe because of it), and a personal lack of knowledge about it, I have very little to say about minorities within our communities, other than my lame attempts to highlight a couple of great people doing great things in our neighborhoods.

It's embarrassing, really. I'm afraid we do not have anything that might be considered outstanding journalism on issues related to people of color (and for you jokesters - I'm not saying that we employ outstanding journalism on ANY subject).

However, I do know that there are interesting people doing incredible things on the internet. And I'm certain that some of you are familiar with plenty of websites created by or run by your neighbors, who may qualify for entry into the Griot Drum Awards.

To that end, I want you to tell me about those diverse, independent websites in the Tampa Bay area. Doesn't matter what the subject is, what you think of the site, or how you learned of them. I simply want to know more about them.

If we find any blog, website, or online information gateway that we feel is deserving, Sticks of Fire will pay the entry fee and nominate them for a Griot Drum Award. Deadline for entry is mid-March, so leave website information in the comments right away. In addition, I encourage any of you bloggers to get this word out, and send your readers of all colors here - I really want to hear from more people with diverse backgrounds.